Please be careful everyone

Hi everyone , at the end of november i sold 2 items which sold for over $1500 ( what a thrill , just before christmas ) wrapped them carefully in a box , bubblewrap etc and took to post office , sent registered mail with signiture , went from adelaide to melbourne , tracked to melbourne mail sorting  , and disappeared , called australia post around 8 times in 6 weeks , mostly being on hold 30 - 75 minutes on hold before answering due to christmas , they couldnt find it at all as it must have imploded when reaching vic mail sorting , in the end was eventually given $100 to compensate my loss from australia post , the buyer was extrememly patient but this week took out a item not recieved claim , so i had to make sure i had the $1370 to refund him as ebay/paypal fees were over $170 , ok, maybe they were stolen as we put our trust in the mail company , im a very small seller on here and didnt realise i could have insured the item , so i call paypal about seller protection yesterday and im told i wouldnt qualify for anything because i couldnt prove i sent it , registered post wasnt good enough , i had to physically photograph or video the item being lodged in the post office , ive noone to turn to as the system is so stacked against the little person but hopefully whoever reads this will cover themselves against being totally ripped off and to cover themselves in whatever way they can , please be careful everyone and have a nice new year

Message 1 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

Have to say I feel sorry for both parties here.

To me, the seller could have all the proof in the world that they posted it off with registered post or whatever, videos galore etc, but there also needs to be some proof that the buyer received it, and from what I have read, that is totally lacking. The item has been lost in the system, so it seems.

 

In the circumstances, I would expect the buyer to get a full refund. They paid over $1300 for something they did not receive. If it was signature on delivery, where is their signature? There isn't one.

What sort of confidence would buyers have in ebay if they could order items, pay for secure postage but still fail to be refunded when an item did not arrive?

 

On the other hand, the poor seller. He obviously did post the expensive item off, he paid for secure postage and because he didn't realise about insurance, all he has is $100 in compensation.

I can't see that ebay or paypal though could do anything else but refund the buyer. My hope is that the item has not been permanently lost in the system but will turn up down the track. Don't give up hope as it has happened to me, with one item almost 3 months behind something else posted at the same time.

The only thing is, if it does turn up, it will most likely be at the address of the buyer. Luckily, it sounds as if this is a decent & reasonable buyer so maybe the seller should message the buyer and mention the possibility & say that if it does turn up later, to please let them know & they will arrange to pay return postage (insured).

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Please be careful everyone

lyndal1838
Honored Contributor

How did you manage to register a parcel?

Registered mail is only for letter post, not parcels.

 

Your post office should not have even sold registered post for a parcel and should have asked if you needed insurance.

 

Message 12 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

We don't know that the post office didn't offer extra cover, Lyndal, but the OP probably wouldn't have known what they were talking about and probably assumed they were covered. The fact that they keep referring to SOD as registered indicates they still don't understand a lot.

Bottom line is that it's up to the sender to do due diligence and not just assume everything will be okay. It was the OP's mistake so if anyone has to pay for it, they should.
Message 13 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

Registered mail is automatically signed....you can pay extra to have a copy of the signature sent to the sender.

 

I still wonder exactly what the OP was sold.

 

Unfortunately it is ultimately up to the seller to understand what services he was using and what recompense he could expect if it went pearshaped.

Message 14 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

"sent registered mail with signiture" (from opening post) so I assume it was sent with signature on delivery, seeing it won't have been sent registered if it was larger than an envelope (in a box with bubblewrap).
Message 15 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

OP sold 2 CD's for $1500 - well done for that.

 

But I don't know how they managed to get them through as letter mail.

 

One, yeah.   But two?

Message 16 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

CD`s were listed as $9.95 postage each in 500 gram satchels. Could you fit 2 cd`s side by side in a satchel?  Only way they could go large letter rate and be registered. On top of each other would be too thick over 20mm

Message 17 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

Just did some quick calculations. Biggest large letter size is 360mm x 260mm x 20mm and 500 grams. A 500 gram satchel is 355mm x 220mm and 2 cd`s laying flat measure around 250mm x 145mm x 10mm thick. So could be sent as a large letter even wrapped in bubble wrap. Weight would be around 250 grams

Message 18 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

wrapped them carefully in a box , bubblewrap etc

 

Unlikely to have been sent as a letter.

Message 19 of 23
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Please be careful everyone

Then how is that 'sent registered mail, with signature'?

Message 20 of 23
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